Modern Geometric Candle Holders

Wood prices have nearly tripled recently. This makes it the perfect time to hunt and scavenge for free materials. The wood for these candle holders was rescued from a construction site dumpster and turned into these modern geometric candleholders. They are fun to make and very fast and easy to batch out making them a very good product to sell. Back when local craft shows were a thing before the lock down these candle holders were one of my best selling products and would sell out almost immediately.

This project truly embodies the spirit of Trash to Treasure as I turned wood headed for a landfill into a product that customers loved and generates profit to fund future projects and tools.

Using a few basic tools found in most small garage woodshops, I will show you how to build a few of these Geometric Candle Holders of your very own.

If you would like a copy of the template I designed I have a link to it in the video description.

2 x 3 Dimensional Lumber

Polycrylic Clear Matte

Tea Light Candles

Hot Glue

Making Tape

Sandpaper

3 inch Nails

Stryofoam Sheet

Color Spray Paint (optional)

The wood for this project came from two, roughly four foot sections of 2x3's I found in a construction site dumpster. I spoke with the construction crew and asked if it would be ok to take a few pieces and they gave me the go ahead. I always ask before I take any material from construction sites just to be sure it's ok.

I started this project by printing and laminating a copy of the template I made. Laminating the template isn't required, but it does keep the template from ripping and tearing when using it multiple times. I've made hundreds of these candle holders using the same laminated template! With the template laminated I cut it out using a hobby knife.

I marked out a line on my miter saw fence 8 inches away from the blade. Using a clamp and a scrap of wood I clamp it to my miter saw fence. This will allow me to butt up my wood to the stop block and make repeated cuts over and over again without having to measure every time.

I cut both 2x3's into 8 inch long blanks. I was able to get 10 blanks out of both pieces with very little wood left over.

With the blanks cut to size I chose which face I wanted for the top. I tried to avoid any knots or major defects. Once I chose my top I lined the template up to the blank and transferred the center mark using a scratch awl. This left me with three impressions I will use at the drill press. I repeated this process until all of the blanks had marks on the tops.

With a 1 and 5/8ths inch forstner bit chucked up in my drill press I lined up the center of the bit with the marks I made and drilled three holes into each candle holder blank.

**Pro Tip**

Save those wood shavings! You can make so many cool things with them, like the Water Resistant Fire Starters I showed you how to make in a previous Instructable found here

https://www.instructables.com/Cheap-Water-Resistant-Fire-Starters/

I set my miter saw fence to random degrees and cut the ends of the blanks into random angles. I switched the angle every two or so cuts as I wanted a lot of variation between the candle holders. To further randomize the angles I also tilted the blade to random angles. This process leaves the candle holders with really nice randomized facets on the ends.

Using the cut off scraps from the miter saw, I attached them to the bottom of the candle holders using masking tape. This will give me a random side profile when I run them through the bandsaw. When cutting the sides on the bandsaw, I kept constant downward pressure on the middle of the piece so that it wouldn't pivot under the pressure from the blade.

After cutting one side I removed the cut offs, mixed them up, reattached them to the candle holders, and cut the other side.

Alternatively you could tilt the table on your bandsaw, but I like how random the cuts turn out using the cut off method.

I use my belt sander to remove all of the band saw marks and sand the pieces smooth. To sand the faceted ends I used the disc sander attached to my belt sander and adjusted the angle to match the angle of the facet.

It only took about 2 to 3 minutes for each piece to get sanded smooth on the belt sander. After the belt sander I sanded the pieces lightly with 220 grit to remove any fuzzy spots left behind on the corners of the facets.

**Note**
A combination belt/disc sander makes this process fast and easy, however it is not necessary to build this project. You can get the same results using a handheld random orbital sander.

Before applying finish I use my hot glue gun to place a dab of hot glue into each of the outer holes and attach a three inch long nail into both holes. This will help speed up the finishing process. Once the hot glue had solidified I could start finishing the candle holders.

To finish the pieces I used Polycrylic Clear Matte finish. Polycrylic is one of my favorite finishes to use as it dries relatively fast and makes it super easy to achieve a nice, smooth finish. I applied the Polycrylic to the top of all the candle holders.

Once all of the tops had a layer of finish I laid out a sheet of styrofoam. I flipped the pieces over and pressed the nails into the stryofoam. This holds them firmly in place and allows me to finish the top and underside of the candle holders at the same time.

I applied 4 coats in total waiting about 2 hours in between each coat. I also lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper in between each coat.

**Pro Tip**

Store your brush in a zip lock bag in between coats to prevent it from drying out.

After waiting overnight for the finish to dry I can remove the nails. I applied the hot glue a little heavy and the nails stuck a little too well. Using a pair of vise grips I removed the nails and cleaned up the remaining hot glue with a small chisel. Once the hot glue is removed the only thing left to do is add the candles.

Once the candles have been added, this project is done!

I experimented by adding a pop of color to a few of the candle holders and loved how they turned out. These candle holders are a fun way to spend some time in the shop and generate some income to fund future projects/tools as well.

If you found this Instructable useful I would love for you to vote for me in the Instructables Trash to Treasure Contest

If you want to see more DIY content, check me out on

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0XpZJLKjhvXGOhD...

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